American Academy of Pediatrics Promotes Child Health in the Philippines
It was, however, inevitable that certain barriers – both natural and manmade – widened the already existing gap of efficiency and collaboration. We lost our computer and some of our health clinic records and equipment during the "big Ondoy flood," encountered apathetic "teen" moms who failed to show up during their clinic follow-ups, found resistance among certain families with regard to any discussion of family planning, and constantly struggled to keep up with the schedules and the growing numbers of children.
We have learned some important lessons. The paradigm of national policy in maternal health has evolved to "every pregnancy is at risk," with the realization that the risk-factor approach is neither sensitive nor specific. The initial results of the I-CATCH Bagong Barangay to date appear to corroborate this new paradigm. Follow-up care depends on an accessible and systematic delivery of health services that begins with preconception and addresses both medical and developmental outcomes. In limited-resource settings, especially where the public sector and health care delivery system is constrained, the medical home concept – which draws from continuous, coordinated, compassionate, culturally appropriate, and accessible care from multiple sectors – may be more challenging but is a model that should guide policy.
Future plans include working on another I-CATCH or research-funded proposal that will focus on a community-based, comprehensive teen pregnancy program with the following prospective partners: the adolescent service in the department of pediatrics of the University of the Philippines Manila-Philippine General Hospital (UPM-PGH), department of obstetrics and gynecology at UPM-PGH, Philippine Obstetric and Gynecology Society (POGS), Department of Social Welfare Division (DSWD), Department of Education, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and Child Protection Unit. This community-based program aims to address the obstetric, medical, and psychosocial needs of pregnant teens; establish a network between a teen program/clinic and tertiary-level hospitals in the area; and ensure safe delivery.
If you have colleagues or friends who are pediatricians or child health providers working in a country with limited resources, please send them to the I-CATCH website.
We welcome your help in sustaining this great program in the years to come. More than two-thirds of the funding for these 29 projects has come from individual donations designated for I-CATCH through the AAP’s Friends of Children Fund.
Dr. Reyes is an associate professor of pediatrics and the head of the developmental pediatrics section at the University of the Philippines College of Medicine, Manila. Dr. Reyes said that she had no relevant financial disclosures.
